Germany's petchem giant Basel to invest in Iran

Iran's media reported on Sunday that Germany's Basel petrochemical giant plans to invest above $300 million in Iran. Reports say the investment will be made in an Iranian petrochemical project and will also include the transfer of technology.

The media have not specified in which project the investment will be made. However, it is already seen as a major step forward by German enterprises to approach the Iranian market at a time that the sanctions - that ban foreign investments in the country - are still in place.

A series of German companies have over the past few months voiced interest to invest in Iran's petrochemical industry, reported the media.

Top executives from Berlin have visited Tehran to the same effect and have held talks with Iranian officials, the reports added.

Officials from Basil are said to have conducted the preliminary discussions with the related Iranian authorities over the company's planned investment.

This comes as Iran and P5+1 are in final stages of talks over a nuclear deal that envisages the removal of certain economic sanctions against in Iran in return for steps by Tehran to limit certain aspects of its nuclear energy activities.

Foreign investments in Iran's petrochemical industry were authorized after Iran and P5+1 signed an interim nuclear deal in Geneva in 2013. However, no significant foreign investment in that sector was made as a series of complications related to banking and financial issues for trading with Iran still remained in place.

Analysts cite numerous advantages for the development of Iran's petrochemical projects the most important of which include the availability of vast reserves of natural gas and the proximity of projects to free waters - what can facilitate Iran's access from production points to global markets.

Iran's current production capacity in the petrochemical sector stands at about 60 million tons in a year. The country has already devised serious plans to double this to as high as 120 million tons per year in the first stage and 180 million tons per year in a further stage.